Haven’t found an official announcement yet, but we’ve heard from a credible source close to the project that The Residences at Palomar project has been canceled.  We’ll update this article as we learn more.  At the moment, calls in to the project are going unanswered.

The project has been quite a story to follow with bait-and-switch designs, a change in lead developers (from Ruvin to Gatehouse), and lately an attempt to get a TIF.

At what point do we begin to discuss breaking apart the super blocks that impede Park East development?

WisDOT is taking the steps to prepare to issue an RFP for airspace leases underneath the Marquette Interchange and Interstate 794.  They’re looking for public input on what should be included, and this is our chance to really say we want something better underneath the freeway that separates the Third Ward and the Milwaukee Intermodal Station from the rest of downtown.

While a mixed-use building probably won’t work underneath an elevated freeway, there are other potential uses other than gravel.  The most profitable for the state and county is presumably parking, but there are other options I’ve heard discussed.  Multiple times people have suggested putting parks.  Now I’m sure a park under the 794 wouldn’t rival Cathedral Square or Pere Marquette in quality, but it might be better than more surface parking (which would hurt nearby parking structure owners).  The challenge with a park is the opportunity cost of giving up leasable land , which makes it hard to advocate for a potentially lackluster park.

The idea I like the most is the creation of a barrier between the streets and the parking lots with rotating public art from area students.  Mix that with upward shooting lights and more contemporary designed fixtures to achieve an experience under the freeway that is similar to walking along the Riverwalk.  Make the area as visually appealing as possible to reduce the negative impact the massive cement structure has on adjacent land.  What do you think?

As it appears now, the land under 794 isn’t attractive to walk through.  This is a chance to really suggest something that would make better.

While the state might still be thinking parking as the likely use  (their invitation to the event includes a photo of cars parking under an elevated freeway), if we as citizens ever had a chance to impact a WisDOT project, it’s probably now.  I would imagine suggesting tearing down the freeway won’t help, so let’s take this chance to voice input while we have it.

The details for the upcoming meetings are listed below:

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) Southeast Regional Office has scheduled two open-house public meetings to discuss a new and innovative process of developing a plan to maximize the utility of the land under the Marquette Interchange and other WisDOT controlled right of way in downtown Milwaukee.

The meetings will be held on Wednesday, January 21, 2009 from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. at the Milwaukee Public Market – 2nd floor cafeteria, 400 N. Water Street, Milwaukee and Tuesday, January 27, 2009 from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m. at the Milwaukee Intermodal Station, 433 W. St. Paul Avenue, Milwaukee.

WisDOT is interested in ideas that can continue the past revenue stream to the state/county, provide a public benefit and/or encourage economic development.  The purpose of the meeting is present the specific locations of land tentatively available for lease and encourage the public to complete a Request for Information (RFI). The RFI enables public and private interest in these parcels as well as helps to develop the evaluation criteria for the Request for Proposal (RFP).

Displays of each parcel of land will be available for review along with a handout detailing the process for submitting the RFI forms related to the use of this land. WisDOT and Milwaukee County staff will be available both days to provide information and answer questions. The same information will be presented at both meetings.

We look forward to your participation in this important meeting.  If you have any questions, or if you cannot attend the meeting but would like to find out more about the Marquette Air Space Lease Considerations, please contact Dave Kitzman at (262) 548-5941 or send an email to david.kitzman@dot.state.wi.us.

The Brewery

Streetlight’s being installed at The Brewery

Blue Ribbon Lofts

The Brewery

Aloft

This meeting had few files acted on but Marquette University’s request for a change in zoning of a variety of university owned properties shows Marquette University is moving ahead on significant projects in downtown Milwaukee.  It was pointed during the meeting that out that of the 8000 undergraduates at Marquette University approximately 6500 live within a six block area of the university, many of whom live in university owned student housing.  In responses to this ongoing need, Marquette University’s brought this resolution forward primarily because of their intent to convert the apartment building at 1628 W Wisconsin into university run student housing.  Whitney Gould asked if any of the other properties receiving a change in zoning could possibly be considered of historic value, to which representatives of Marquette University indicated that none of the buildings were of historic significance.  This file was approved and will now go before the Zoning & Neighborhoods Development Committee.

UPDATE: An individual from the Journal Sentinel sent us a follow-up on the story.  It was not fuel being spilled into the water.

We checked when someone forwarded your blog post. The U.S. Coast Guard says this was actually sediment from an aerator that keeps ice off the boats. No fuel spill, the Coast Guard says.

One of the Edelweiss boats docked along the Riverwalk adjacent to the Highland Avenue pedestrian bridge appears to have begun leaking fuel into the Milwaukee River.  The Milwaukee Fire Department is on the scene to assess the situation, and presumably will be acting shortly.

Urban Milwaukee has obtained exclusive photos of the incident from an anonymous source.

The Milwaukee County Board Task Force on the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Transit Authority Recommendations, chaired by Supervisor Patricia Jursik, met for the first time on Monday December 29th, 2008.  Other members of the task force present at the meeting included Supervisor Chris Larson, Supervisor John Thomas (who arrived late), Thomas Kujawa (formerly of MCTS), and Lloyd Grant (attending on behalf of Ms. Anita Gulotta-Connelly).  The goal of the task force is to present recommendations to the Transportation Committee, which will then be presented to the full Milwaukee County Board on February 5th, 2009.

George Torres was called on to explain his vote against the recommendations of the RTA, and almost immediately went on the defensive for his boss, County Executive Scott Walker.  Torres was called because he is Scott Walker’s representative on the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Transit Authority.

Torres appeared to have every excuse for why he voted no, most of which appeared to be solved by the inclusion of a local management committee (included in the recommendations that were passed 6-1 by the RTA).  He expressed concerns that the state would dictate what happened with the RTA, that the RTA would be the sole recipient of revenue from the sales tax, and that subcontracting was worded to occur with current transit operators, not potential future operators.  Torres also aired concerns that the appropriation of funds was too focused on the KRM.

Thomas Kujawa asked Torres what the County Executive wanted as a funding source, to which Torres primary response was the diversion of gas tax money.  This follows a typical Scott Walker model of avoiding a tax increase to fund anything, and simply stealing money from another pot.

A refreshing critique came in the meeting when Supervisor Larson took issue with the comments he was hearing from Mr. Torres and the fact that Scott Walker had paid for ads against the successful 1% sales tax referendum.  He also took issue with Torres saying that only 3 out of the 18 communities in Milwaukee County had passed it, noting that Torres failed to mention that those that didn’t failed by the slimmest of margins.

Kujawa at one point exclaimed the “RTA isn’t brain surgery, are we going to solve the problem or not?”  Throughout the meeting he clearly displayed displeasure with the responses Mr. Torres was giving.

It’s worth noting that a handful of supervisors not on the task force were in attendance at the meeting, including Supervisors Weishan, Lipscomb, and Borkowski.

Supervisor Jursik ran through a list of individuals that will be invited to the next task force meeting.  They include the following:

• Chairman Holloway
• Chairman Mayo
• Julia Taylor
• Kerry Thomas
• A member of the Cudahy Chamber of Commerce
• Alderman Witkowski
• Ken Yunker
• Samual Jenson (Transit Riders union)
• Matt Nelson (Transit Riders union)
• Richard Riley (ATU)
• Supervisor Broderick
• Pete Bietzel/Tim Sheehy
• Rob Henken
• Sharon Robinson
• Bill Sell
• Mayors McCue, Zepeke, Ricahrds, Bolender

Towards the end of the meeting Supervisor Jursik explained that the goal of the task force would be to develop a consensus statement to take back to the Transportation Committee and ultimately the County Board.  It will be interesting to see what the task force comes up with.  I would expect it to be pro-RTA with some potentially legitimate concerns included because of the involvement of both Supervisor Larson and Supervisor Jursik, who both showed a genuine interest in progress at the last Transportation Commitee meeting.

Christmas has come and gone, and 2008 has been another interesting year for urbanism in Milwaukee.  It’s time to look forward to what we can hope for and plan on in 2009.  We broke our thoughts down into three separate categories.  The first chronicles the projects we think would genuinely promote urbanism in Milwaukee.  The second are proposed projects that we would like to see break ground.  The third and final list is of projects that we’ll almost certainly be following in Milwaukee this next year.

Top 10 Milwaukee Urbanist Wishes for 2009

1. UWM Expands Engineering School in downtown Milwaukee.
2. The RTA receives funding in the Governor’s budget and the KRM project moves forward.
3. The Mayor’s streetcar plan is selected as the preferred alternative and the project moves forward.
4. The proposed widening of I-94 is dropped by the DOT.
5. The City of Milwaukee enters in to no water deals that would send water across the continental divide.
6. The plans to replace the Hoan Bridge with a lower bridge that activates the land at the north and south ends of the bridge move forward.
7. The City of Milwaukee moves aggressively to convert more one-way streets to two-way streets in Downtown Milwaukee.
8. The City of Milwaukee makes additional bike lane improvements and enhancements, including “cycle tracks.”
9. Milwaukee County finally moves forward and installs bike racks on buses.
10. The City of Milwaukee utilizes market rate parking at meters throughout downtown Milwaukee.

Top 10 Development Projects We Would Like To See Move Forward in 2009

1. The Moderne
2. The Catalyst
3. Pleasant Street Market
4. Bradley Center redevelopment
5. The Gallun Tannery redevelopment
6. Second Phase of The North End
7. The Transera (Goll Mansion redevelopment)
8. Second Phase of the Downer Avenue redevelopment
9. Riverboat Landing Condos
10. Second Phase of The Edge

Honorable Mention: Domus

Top 10 Development Projects We Will Likely Be Following in 2009

1. Openings of numerous projects at The Brewery (former Pabst Brewery).
2. Openings at the South Water Works (former Transpak buildings).
3. Construction of the UWM Hometown site dormitory.
4. Construction of the Aloft Hotel.
5. Construction of St. Johns on the Lake.
6. Completion of 1824 E Park Place.
7. Construction of New Land Enterprises’ Kenilworth and Farwell apartment building.
8. Expansion of Marquette Engineering School on the edge of downtown Milwaukee.
9. Expansion of Cardinal Stritch into downtown Milwaukee (at The Brewery).
10. Expansion of UWM Engineering School in Wauwatosa.

Colorado Railcar Manufacturing, the company slated to provide the train sets for the potential Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee (KRM) commuter rail line, has closed its doors due to a liquidity problem.  The company was the only supplier of diesel multiple unit (DMU) trains that met FRA standards to operate on the same tracks as freight trains.  So the battle over a recently released (and highly-flawed in our opinion) cost report might have to be tabled at this point.

Does this mean that the KRM line has no chance of going forward?  Absolutely not.  We still think Governor Doyle should include the ability for the RTA to collect up to a .5% sales tax in his budget proposal, due out sometime in mid-to-late January.  The lack of an American manufacturer of DMU’s that meet FRA’s standards is a void that will likely be filled by the market, especially as more and more metro areas aim to start new commuter rail programs.

To understand the importance of Colorado Railcar, it’s important to look at the laws and options surrounding transit systems.  Fortunately Fred Hanson, General Manager of Tri-Met in Oregon, wrote a great article breaking down why DMU’s from Colorado Railcar are important to new transportation systems.

Fact No. 1: In purchasing the railcars for WES, TriMet had to comply with the federal Buy America law. Only one American firm — Colorado Railcar Manufacturing — manufactures the vehicles we needed.

Fact No. 2: The Diesel Multiple Unit trains selected for WES are the only ones that meet federal safety standards allowing commuter trains to operate with active freight trains. Portland & Western Railroad controls the tracks upon which the WES trains will operate, and the company required that freight trains continue to operate on the tracks along with commuter trains. The DMU trains were also selected for this corridor because they provide for ease of operation (an operator cab at both ends), their size fits the Beaverton Transit Center, and TriMet can add future service outside the current “rush-hour only” schedule and safely share the tracks with freight trains.

The Buy American law appears not to be the only thing keeping foreign DMU train sets off American tracks.  They apparently do not comply with FRA standards that require the trains won’t crumple in a high-speed collisions.

What’s the solution?

I think it’s time for the state of Wisconsin and the City of Milwaukee to look at supporting Super Steel, our local railcar manufacturer (for clients such as Metra) to become a manufacturer of DMU trainsets.  Not only may it position Milwaukee to be a leader in the industry, but it will put more people to work in Milwaukee.